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Victim of Boston Marathon bombings grateful to survive

Published On: Apr 18 2013 05:49:22 AM EDT

AP Photo/Rodrique Ngow

BOSTON -

Kevin White had just left a restaurant with his parents when the first of two bombs that hit the Boston Marathon exploded about 10 feet away. The force of the blast, he said Wednesday, was so strong that it slammed them to the ground, breaking some of his mother's bones and tearing his father's right foot so badly surgeons had to amputate it.

Kevin White, who lives in Boston and Chicago, spoke Wednesday evening shortly after he was released from Boston Medical Center, where he was treated following the twin bombings that killed three people and injured more than 170 others two days earlier.

White, who briefly lost consciousness after the blast knocked him down onto shards of glass from nearby stores and sent shrapnel deep into his body, was looking forward to seeing his father who is still in the intensive care unit at another hospital.

He appeared to appreciate being out of the hospital and showed flashes of humor, including when he described the most difficult moment in the bombings.

"Having a bomb blow up next to you is probably the most difficult moment," White, 35, said with a straight face, followed by a flicker of a mischievous smile. Then he added on a more serious note: "Not knowing where my parents were after the bomb blew up, that was the most difficult moment because we were separated."

"I didn't know whether they were in trouble, if they were badly hurt, that was the most difficult," he said while sitting next to his brother, Andrew, who flew in from Portland, Ore., soon after the attacks.

Kevin White was treated at the scene and was later taken by ambulance to Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, where emergency physicians removed shrapnel from his face and elsewhere in his body, cleaned the wounds, patched him up and subsequently released him. But a seizure triggered by a concussion he suffered in the blast, together with problems with some of his wounds, led doctors at Boston Medical Center to admit him the same evening.

He still has shrapnel buried deep in his flesh

"I think that I'm lucky, in a way, that I did not receive many devastating injuries such as my father or severely broken bones" like his mother, said White, who works as in the financial services industry. "I have a lot of severe muscle injuries which will heal over time, I have a popped ear drum which will take time to hear, I have shrapnel in my skin which will take time to work its way out."

Some close family friends have an online fundraising drive to help the White family pay some of the hefty medical bills they are expected to confront during the months of treatment, recovery and rehabilitation that lie ahead, together with out-of-pocket expenses they may have to incur to make the parents' home more accessible now that Bill White has lost his foot.

The initiative had generated more than $18,400 by late Wednesday, reaching in two days nearly its original goal of raising $20,000 in a month.

"It's something that hits home for them, you know, there is a lot of tragedies around this country it's easy for some people to sit back and be like 'Well, that's terrible,' but it doesn't affect anyone that I know,'" Kevin White said. "A lot of people I've spoken to have been, like, 'Wow, this actually affects me because I know Andrew and Kevin, I know their families, I've been in their houses.'"

He said his family is very grateful for the generosity of those who've contributed to help them deal with the bombing and its aftermath.

"However we also want people to realize there are many other victims out there and there many funds which they can support which will help a lot of other people," White said.

He said well-wishers contributing to the White family fund should consider also donating to The One Fund Boston, the charity established to help families affected by the bombings.

Photos: Honoring Boston Marathon bombing victims, survivors

Photos: Honoring Boston Marathon bombing victims, survivors

Three people were killed and more than 250 injured in the two bombings that rocked the Boston Marathon. Just days later, an MIT police officer was killed.

Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell and Lingzi Lu were killed in the blasts.

Krystle Campbell, 29, of Medford, was killed in the blast.

Neighbors and friends remembered 8-year-old bombing victim Martin Richard as a vivacious boy who loved to run, climb and play sports like soccer, basketball and baseball.

Lingzi Lu, a Boston University graduate student, was with friends near the finish line when she was killed in the explosion.

At approximately 10:30 pm on April 18, MIT officer Sean Collier was killed and an explosive shootout occurred in Watertown a few hours later.

The Richards family: (l-r) Jane, Bill, Denise, Henry and Martin. Martin was killed, mom Denise lost vision in one eye and younger sister Jane lost a leg.

Jarrod Clowery in the immediate aftermath of the bombing. His body was pierced with nails and BBs.

Nicole and Michael Gross of Charlotte, N.C. were seriously injured.

Paul Norden, left, and his brother J.P., both suffering limb-loss and major blast-related injuries in the Boston Marathon bombing. This picture is from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston on May 13, 2013.

Roseann Sdoia was severely injured as a spectator at the Boston Marathon and lost a leg.

Adrianne Haslet, a professional ballroom dancer, lost a leg in the Boston Marathon bombings.

Natalie Stewart, 26, sustained extensive damage to her arms and legs. Her right leg had to be amputated below the knee. GoFundMe page.

Ryan McMahon's back and both arms were broken in a fall from the viewing stands at the Boston Marathon finish line. Her GoFundMe page.

Beth Roche, right, whose left leg was severely injured by one of the bombs that exploded near the Boston Marathon finish line, sits on her bed with her daughter Rebecca Roche, left, at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston.

Jane Richard, 7, Martin Richard's sister, lost a leg in the blast.

Jane has been fitted with a prosthesis after losing her lower leg.

Krystle Campbell was with her friend, Karen Rand, who was also injured in the blast. The women worked together at Summer Shack.

Danlin Zhou, a Boston University student was injured in the blast.

Jeff Bauman Jr., of Chelmsford, seen here with Carlos Arredondo in the moments after the blast, lost two legs.

Kevin White had just left a restaurant with his parents when the first of two bombs that hit the Boston Marathon exploded about 10 feet away. The force of the blast, he said Wednesday, was so strong that it slammed them to the ground, breaking some of his mother's bones and tearing his father's right foot so badly surgeons had to amputate it.

Boston Marathon bombing survivor Roseann Sdoia, of the North End neighborhood of Boston, leaves Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, May 14, 2013. Sdoia lost part of her right leg in the explosions near the finish line.

Alvaro and Martha Galvis, of Nashua, N.H., were both severely injured when they were hit by shrapnel. Martha also had to have her left ring finger amputated.

Heather Abbott, of Newport, R.I., was injured in the blast as she stood near the finish line with friends watching the race. Her left leg had to be amputated.

Aaron Hern, 11, of Martinez, Calif. , was wounded by shrapnel while waiting for his mom to finish the race. He is pictured with parents Alan and Katherine, sister Abby and first lady Michelle Obama at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston a few days after the bombings.

Nicholas Yanni, 32, and his wife were injured in the blast.

Boston Marathon bombing survivor Roseann Sdoia, of Boston, walks down a long corridor as she is followed by her physical therapist Dara Casparian at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, June 20, 2013, in Boston. Sdoia went back to the hospital to learn to walk with her new leg.

Denise Spenard, of Manchester, N.H., says she and a friend were pushed into a restaurant when the first explosion happened. She was struck by shrapnel.

Erika Brannock, left, her mother Carol Phillips Downing and her sister Nicole Gross. Erika and Nicole were cheering on their mother Carol at the Boston Marathon when one of two bombs exploded nearby injuring Nicole and Erika.

Boston Marathon bombing victim Steven Byrne waves as he comes onto the field for a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Kansas City Royals.

MBTA police officer Richard Donohue with MIT Police Officer Sean Collier. The photo of the friends was taken the day they graduated together from the Municipal Police Officers' Academy in 2010.

MBTA Police Officer Richard Donohoe was wounded in the shootout with the bombing suspects.

Brittany Loring sustained severe injuries from the bombing at the finish line at the Boston Marathon. Brittany will graduate from Boston College with a dual degree in Law and Business (JD/MBA) in May.

Jarrod Clowery of Stoneham

Cambridge teacher Jenny Chung was struck by shrapnel at the finish line.

JP and Paul Norden, both Stoneham High graduates, each lost a leg in the bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Marc Fucarile lost his right leg above the knee and the 34-year-old Stoneham man suffered serious burns and has extensive shrapnel wounds, including in his heart.

This April 18, 2013 photo provided by Alfred Colonese shows from left Alfred Colonese, Mick Henn, Dale Abbott, first lady Michelle Obama, Heather Abbott, Jason Geremia, and Michelle Dalrymple at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Heather Abbott was scrambling to get off the sidewalk when the force of the second blast blew her through the restaurant doorway. The day of the bombings, Abbott and a half-dozen friends took in the traditional Patriots' Day Red Sox game at Fenway Park. They left the match early and headed to Forum, where former New England Patriots were gathered to raise money for offensive guard Joe Andruzzi's cancer foundation, and where another friend was tending bar.

Boston Marathon bombing victim Ron Brassard of Epsom, N.H., throws out a ceremonial first pitch prior to a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park in Boston, Tuesday, May 7, 2013.

Celeste Corcoran (R) and her daughter, Sydney Corcoran (L), were both injured in the bombings

Sporting her 4-inch Nine West high heels Heather Abbott of Newport, RI., shows off her new "high-definition" prosthetic leg which allows her to also wear heels and skirts in Warwick, R.I.,, Nov. 7, 2013. Abbott lost her left leg in the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

In this May 22, 2013 photo, Boston Marathon bombing survivor Pete DiMartino, of Rochester, N.Y., smiles during a physical therapy session at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. DiMartino was injured in an explosion near the finish line, which blew away much of one leg and burned the other. “I don’t want anybody feeling sorry for me,” he said. “... I want people to see that this has made me a better person and I want people to become better people through what they see through me.”

Mery Daniel was at the finish line when the bombings took her left leg and much of her right calf. Until the taping of "Boston Strong: Reunited," Daniel had never met the first-responders. including Charles Genero of Boston EMS, who saved her life.

LeeAnn and Nicholas Yanni were both wounded in the bombing.

Marc Fucarile, who lost a leg, says he owes his survival to a Boston firefighter who told him to think about his fiancee and son to stay alive.

Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman acknowledges cheering fans before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park prior to a baseball between the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday, May 28, 2013, in Boston.

Marc Fucarile and Jenn Regan announced their engagement in early 2014. The couple have a son, Gavin.

Aaron Hern, 11, of Martinez, Calif. points to the site of the first Boston Marathon bombing to his mother, Katherine, while his father, Alan, wheels him down Boylston Street in Boston's Copley Square, April 25, 2013. Hern was injured during the second bombing at the Boston Marathon finish area on April 15.

Sydney Corcoran, 18, and her mother, Celeste, were injured in the attacks. Sydney was crowned prom queen at Lowell High School's senior prom.

Boston Marathon bombing survivor Rebekah Gregory walks down the isle, where her fiance, Pete DiMartino, also a survivor of the bombings, waits for her during their wedding at Biltmore Estate, in Asheville, N.C., Friday, April 4, 2014. Gregory and DiMartino were at the finish line of the Boston Marathon cheering on DiMartino’s mother.

Bomb victim Brittany Loring was visited in the hospital by Dustin Pedroia

Forty years ago, one of the greatest boxing matches in history took place in an unlikely setting: the capital of the Philippines. Muhammad Ali's epic win over great rival Joe Frazier in 1975 became known as the "Thrilla in Manila."